


Hyphen Allen

by Navnit



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, SnowBarry - Freeform, eventual olicity
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-20
Updated: 2015-10-07
Packaged: 2018-04-10 05:07:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4378382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Navnit/pseuds/Navnit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hyphen Allen ( - ALLEN) is all it took to destroy everything.</p><p>What if the article discovered in the secret room at STAR Labs was a lie?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

Hyphen Allen **(- A L L E N);** that was all it took to completely destroy everything.

Barry was running faster than he had ever run as he thought about what Eobard Thawne had done, he still couldn't get his head around it. How could five simple letters and a hyphen cause so much damage?

'You have passed Mach 1 Barry Allen.'

But it had. Thawne was not an idiot and he had anticipated that since Cisco had access to the entire mainframe of STAR labs they could discover the existence of his room out of time containing GIDEON and her ability to show the future.

'Mach II'

All he had done was install a switch inside the door way to the room that launched the article onto the viewing screen as soon as someone other than him entered the room.

An altered article from the future, an article he himself was interested in and constantly checked in order to assure himself that the future remained intact. But the difference between his future and the dummy article was just that; **\- ALLEN**.

'Mach III, Barry I must advise against this.'

And it had turned their world upside down. The original article contained the exact same story of the Flash disappearing only the article was written by **IRIS WEST** and not **IRIS WEST-ALLEN.**

_Seeing the article had immediately changed everything for them. Caitlin who had been the first to notice the article had felt her heart sink as she read the byline, she had felt that her and Barry were moving towards something ever since that night that they let loose and sang Summer Lovin' together, she had been so disappointed when it turned out to be Hannibal Cates instead of Barry who had kissed her in the lab, she had wanted to talk to him tell him about her feelings, clear the air and see if there was something more than this close friendship that they had._

_When she saw that article her shoulders had slumped and her eyes teared up but for only a moment, she had then steeled herself and called attention to the byline. She could feel her heart rip in two as she watched Barry read the name of the reporter, a confused but happy smile settle on his lips._

_A week later when Ronnie came back and said they should marry she jumped at the opportunity to stop her heart ache and agreed. When she said her vows she was surprised her voice didn't stutter but even as Ronnie put the ring on her finger and kissed her she couldn't help but feel that this was wrong it didn't help when out of the corner of her eyes she caught a Barry's expression and it was anything but happy. He quickly wiped it off, of course, and congratulated them._

'You have reached Mach IV. I understand your grief Barry but this could rupture the space time continuum, changing things that aren't supposed to be changed... '

"GIDEON he **already** changed things that weren't supposed to be changed, I'm doing this to change things back, make things right..." he spoke through his comms to the AI, the helmet of his white blue suit allowing him to keep the lines open even at supersonic speed.

_Barry did travel back in time but the Flash who had traveled back with Thawne stopped him from saving his Mom, he came back to the present to stop Thawne but he was too late, as Barry came out of the wormhole he watched as Thawne's time machine blinked out of existence closing the wormhole and preserving the time line._

_Knowing that there was nothing they could do about Thawne they decided to move forward with their lives. Eddie and Iris tried to get back into the dynamic they had before but in the back of both of their minds was the knowledge that the future held something different for them. Eddie eventually stepped aside for Barry but even when they did get together it seemed forced, yes Barry still loved Iris and Iris finally admitted that yes she did have some feelings for him but there was that article that seemed to always hang over their heads._

_By the time they both realised the mistake they made both Eddie and Caitlin were in committed relationships. All they had was each other and when they got married the only person they made happy was Joe._

_Four years into their marriage they were still living as best friends, caring for each other and supporting each other but ultimately still pining for someone else._

_Caitlin still worked closely with him and his feelings for her and her for him mounted with each day they spent until it all boiled over and they woke up to find themselves in bed with each other._ _  
_

_Wracked with guilt they chose to never speak of it again. Until it happened again two weeks later, they found comfort and solace in each other that they had never been able to find with their spouses._

_A month into the affair though Barry woke up to find Caitlin sitting on the edge of the bed her head bowed as she looked down at her wedding ring, she was crying. Barry comforted her and she let him but then made him promise to come clean with Iris while she came clean with Ronnie._

_The results of both their confessions were radically different; Iris hugged Barry and told him that she'll get the papers ready. The were always friends more than lovers and she was happy that he and Caitlin had found each other._

_Ronnie's reaction though was something that none of expected. Caitlin had met Ronnie down in the particle accelerator tunnel where he was working on upgrading the coolant system. When Ronnie began to reminisce about the times they had sneaked down here while construction had been going on Caitlin couldn't handle the guilt and blurted out the truth as was Caitlin's way._

_She told him that she was very sorry for hurting him but that she had been trying to hold on to a relationship that had actually ended when the particle accelerator first exploded._

_Ronnie got more agitated the more she talked. When she noticed this she trailed off her cheeks tear streaked as she stepped closer to her husband calling his name, she saw that his eyes had turned an orange white signalling the appearance of Firestorm but Dr Stein was no where near him._

_As she stepped closer he asked her in a roaring voice who it was that she slept with. Hesitating she told him and with a violent scream he burst alight with fire triggering an explosion that threw Caitlin ten feet across the room into the cooling systems badly burnt._

_Caitlin struggled to see through the pain and the fire but just then one of the STAR labs modified nitrogen cooling tanks exploded in her face causing her entire body to freeze because of the cold._

_Ronnie raged for another moment before getting a handle on himself and looking around. He called out for her as he realised what he had done. He rushed forwards to help her out of the wreckage of the cooling system as he pushed aside the fallen cylinders and panel walls to cradle Caitlin in his arms he felt a cold chill go up his body despite the entire area burning red hot._

_Ronnie looked down at Caitlin to see a pair of ice blue pupils staring back at him, her jacket had been burned off by his fire and the dark camisole she had been wearing was the only thing covering her torso, a torso that was right now in front of his eyes covering up with a layer of what looked like Frost, her hair had been turned to a bluish-white and her lips previously red were now a cold blue._

_Ronnie called out her name and she only responded with a hum before leaping from his arms and landing daintily on her heels. Ronnie blinked, Caitlin had never been this agile before, he gulped as she turned smoking eyes up at him and moved closer running an ice cold finger down his chest before grabbing his lapels and pulling him into a frosty kiss._

_Ronnie wondered for a moment that the room was burning, Caitlin had been changed by something and she had just admitted to cheating on him with one of their closest friends and yet here he was kissing her with abandon. When the thought of her cheating penetrated his mind though he tried to pull back only to realise his lips were stuck on hers! Like a tongue on a frozen lamppost. He tried to pull back more but now her hands had formed a layer of ice that stuck him onto her._

_He started panicking tried to speak but all he could get out were pained moans as he felt heat escaping him and the cold setting in, he felt Caitlin shudder and realised that she was enjoying this, she was getting pleasured by sucking the life out of him._

_The startling thought allowed him to gather enough of himself to try and flame on again but it was futile as she froze his hands too. Soon he stopped struggling and watched with a literally freezing heart as the love of his life killed him._

_Caitlin came to the moment Ronnie's life left his body and she dropped down to her knees as she saw what she had done. She shook his body and begged him to wake up as tears tried to stream down her cheeks, instead they froze halfway and dropped to the ground as frozen tear drops._

 

_Barry was just leaving his and Iris' house, knowing that Ronnie would be angry with their revelation and wanting to be there to support Caitlin, when Dr Stein called him. He told Barry that he was feeling very strong emotions from Ronnie and that he should get to him as quickly as possible._

_When Barry asked what emotions did he detect expecting sadness, disappointment and definitely betrayal. Stein instead told him something that made him go into overdrive. Ronnie was very angry and that was not good._

_When Barry arrived at STAR labs it was to a fire evacuation siren, he flashed in stopping only at the cortex to yell out to GIDEON for the location of Caitlin. GIDEON told him that Dr Raymond was locking herself inside a containment cell._

_She showed him a shot of a very pale almost bluish skinned Caitlin tapping on the console of a containment cell, he marked her position and flashed to it only to see the door shut in front of Caitlin locking her in._

_Barry banged on the door as a distraught Caitlin looked out at him. He tried the unlock sequence and as expected found his override key ineffective, she had changed the access code so only she could unlock herself. He banged on the door again asking for an explanation, her whole body was a bluish pale color and she had frost gathering on her forearms and hands, her hair had turned a blue white that he would have found very attractive if he had taken the time to stop panicking._

_Her eyes though, those brown irises that he loved so much were a cold blue and if it weren't for her broken expression he would have been freaked out by the iciness of them._

_He asked her why she was doing this. Why she was locking her self and in answer she pointed behind him, Barry turned to find the dead body of Ronnie Raymond looking up at him with vacant eyes, his body looked frozen and somehow less whole than it was the last time Barry had seen him. He gulped and turned back to Caitlin._

_She told him what had happened and Barry eyes flashed as she recounted how Ronnie had attacked her and he thought to himself that if she hadn't killed him then Ronnie Raymond's heart might have been the first one that the Flash would have willingly put a vibrating fist through._

_He listened horrified as she recounted how she had sucked the life out of Ronnie and left him a lifeless husk. She sobbed on the other side of the glass her tears turning into ice in front of his eyes as Caitlin Snow, **his Caitlin** screamed in anguish that she was a Killer._

_Barry tried to reassure her that it was okay, that she didn't know what she was capable of, they had helped countless metahumans control their powers and she would be no different. Yes the trauma of killing her husband would take longer to get through but he promised that he would be with her every step of the way and he begged and pleaded with her to just tell him the password so that he could just hold her._

_She refused saying that he didn't understand, that she could already feel the hunger coming back, the craving and the pain to take all the warmth from the nearest body to suck the life out of them._

_She said that she could **feel** his emanating warmth just as she had felt Ronnie's and the if she was allowed to be free then she would destroy him just like Ronnie._

_Barry tried to argue but she refused calling herself a savage and vampiric monster that wants to only feed and that there was no way to help her. Some of it was grief talking but Barry wondered how much of it might have actually been true he begged and pleaded for what seemed like almost an hour, professing his love for her and his plans for their future together but it was to no avail, she would not give in so Barry had to go above her. He would not let the woman he loved most in the world rot away in a cell for the rest of her life._

_He called for GIDEON and the AI answered. He asked if the AI could open her cell, GIDEON said she could but it would take a while. Barry nodded and asked how long GIDEON answered ten minutes. Barry told GIDEON to get to it and turned back to Caitlin triumphantly._

_She screeched at him asking what was he doing, he said it was alright and that she was not going to hurt him. Caitlin said that he didn't realise what he was doing and that if the door opened he would die._

_He replied that he was fast enough to get away from her until she got herself under control._

_She wanted to smack him as she replied that the only way she got under control was if she fed. He tried to argue but she overrode him snapping out that ice was his only weakness and she knew that Captain Colds cold gun was nothing compared to what she could do with her powers._

_She looked at him her face a mask of pain and then came to a decision. She held out a hand and a long and sharp icicle formed in it from the water in the air around her and then she looked into Barry's eyes. She told him that she was sorry and that she loved him and she took the icicle and stabbed herself in the heart with it._

Barry finally reached enough speed and with GIDEONS protests still ringing in his ears entered the wormhole and stepped into the speed force. He was going to make things right. He was going to save Caitlin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey. Hope you enjoyed that, I've got three chaps lined up for this story and your response for this one will determine how quickly or even if I will be updating. So if you do like this premise and storyline then leave a kudos and a comment telling me so. 
> 
> More stories from this author?! Here they are:
> 
> Marvel Cinematic Universe
> 
> Read about how Peggy, Steve and Bucky from WW2 times are transported into Post CA:TWS present times here:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/3308672
> 
> Read about how Tony discovers a de-aging serum and wants to use it on a dying Peggy here:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/4303254


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for all the kudos and comments, this is the first story of mine that has gotten so many kudos and comments for the first chapter, I hope the second installment will garner just as much appreciation. I'm sorry that this chapter is so late but life been a little too hectic, hopefully now I can get back on track. Here's chapter two, enjoy!

Barry arrived inside the particle accelerator two minutes after Thawne shut down the building and left for his house, with the speed he had gathered in making the time jump he had to go around the accelerator fifty more times before he reached the speed he needed to slow down and get out of the tunnel. 

He didn't slow down in any of the rooms knowing that if he did the cameras would catch him and his job would be finished before it even started. His first instinct when he got outside, even now, was to check on Caitlin. Which helped him coincidentally because; if he was really going to do this he was going to need her help the most.

But first, he needed cover. Thawne had surveillance everywhere and he knew he needed to be able to speak freely if he was to get Caitlin on his side so his first stop was at the power station out of town. Two seconds later he was out and on his way to the now blacked out Central City.

He arrived at her apartment and looked around, nostalgia hitting him stronger than he had anticipated. At this moment they hadn't started their affair, so he didn't expect anything in her house to remind him of their time. But he should have known better; this was, after all, the house that they escaped to to be together. Caitlin had kept it as a security blanket despite her marriage and it had come in handy.

Barry smiled as he reminisced looking at the kitchen counter were he had more than once lifted up Caitlin in their bouts of passion. He supposed that he ought to feel guilty about sleeping with another man's wife and maybe he did feel bad about hurting Ronnie who was a good friend, but every time he tried to feel ashamed or regretful about his relationship with Caitlin he felt that he was dishonoring the single most beautiful moment of his existence.

Being with Caitlin even for those few months that they had been together was better to Barry than discovering that he could break the sound barrier for the first time, it was better feeling than when Joe had arrived at his parents day at school for the first time, it was even better than seeing his father out of prison for the first time, which they had actually managed to achieve even without Thawne's confession.

From the first time he had given in and kissed Caitlin to the last morning they had spent together before everything went to hell, their time was filled with laughter and easy declarations of love and promises of the future that they could both see so clearly.

_'I'm sorry._ _I love you.'_

He closed his eyes as he heard her last words once again before that icicle pushed into her heart. He stifled the urge to cry out in the near physical pain that he still felt at her fall. Barry shook his head trying to get his head together. 'You've got this Allen.' He encouraged himself. 'You can do this. It won't happen like that again.'

He looked up from taking to himself to hear the scratching of her key turn in the front door lock. He froze as Dr Caitlin Snow walked into the room completely oblivious to his presence, that usual look of preoccupation on her face, though today it was mixed with a lot of anguish.

Barry understood. Today was the day that she got actual confirmation of Thawne's true identity, plus she discovered that the man she was falling for was supposedly destined to be with someone else.

And God help him he might cause a paradox already but he just couldn't stand to see that look on her face, it reminded him too much of an icy blue stare and a sharp icicle penetrating pale white skin.

He flashed forward allowing her a second for her normal bewilderment and surprise at his speed and then he closed the distance between themselves and planted the most vigorous kiss he could muster making her drop the files in her hand in shock. She stayed still for only two seconds before her hands were in his hair and she was kissing him back with equal fervor until too soon for him her hands stilled and she pushed him back a little.

Barry groaned knowing what was coming but still backed off studying his loves now guarded expression which when combined with her mussed hair and her just kissed rosy lips served to make her the cutest thing.

She looked him up and down her expression growing more and more alarmed as she took in his white and blue suit and weathered face, he assumed his hair style was different than the flash here because her eyes lingered on that before she spoke.

"Y-you're not Barry," She stuttered fumbling for her bag. "Hannibal? We locked you up...but...he can't copy powers..."

She was rummaging in her bag looking for her phone when Barry spoke up. He wasn't concerned, Caitlin was a scientist, she liked evidence and he had some for her. All her said was four words and she froze. "I can prove it." He said with a certain conviction that he knew the current Barry Allen lacked.

Caitlin stared for a moment and then spoke. "Then do it," she replied taking out the phone and clutching it tightly. "I've already had imposter you kiss me earlier today so this time it had better be you Barry."

Barry nodded and didn't waste time on exposition. "When I discovered my powers for the first time, I asked you why you don't smile much..." Caitlin's eyes widened but he continued. "You told me that your promising carrier was now ruined, your boss was now in a wheel chair and the blast that gave me my powers also killed your fiance..."

He felt a pang as his words affected her but he knew they would just as he knew that they were the words that would convince her, he still tried to cheer her up though. "... and," He came closed to her and whispered in her ear his voice a soft lyrical lilt. "Summer Lovin'...." he sang causing Caitlin to squeal and blush and smacked him in the hand.

"Barry!" She exclaimed. "What are you doing in my house, where did you get that new suit and why did you just kiss me?"

He stilled her by gripping her shoulders firmly and looking her in the eyes. He remembered at one time when he used to think that her nervous babbling reminded him of Felicity but when Dr Snow picked up a head of steam she could talk herself into hyperventilating.

"Cait," he said his voice commanding, she stilled at the nickname. "I am here because I needed to see you. This suit? It's designed by Cisco but with a few upgraded perks that I installed and as for kissing you? I probably shouldn't have done that but after watching the love of my life die in front of my eyes I couldn't help myself when I saw her so depressed."

Caitlin frowned for a moment, a normal person would have immediately called him a mad man and had him committed but his Caitlin was always much much more than just merely normal. She took a second to think about it and met his gaze.

"You're not the Barry Allen I just left at Joe's house, are you?" She asked softly her hand reaching up to touch Barry's hair, he shook his head closing his eyes at the familiar touch but once again wondering what exactly was different about his and this Barry's hair.

"You travelled back in time?" Another nod. "From how far forward?"

"About six years into the future," Barry replied slowly clasping Caitlin's hand and leading her to the couch and sitting down with her.

Caitlin nodded as she looked down at their joined hands. "The article in that room..." Catlin said her voice soft and he shook his head pushing some stray hairs of her face and running his hands over her head.

"Was a lie. Well not the article but the byline," he said as he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

"So you do disappear in the future but the article wasn't written by Iris?" she asked him her voice now a whisper as they looked at each other.

"Its written by Iris," He replied. "But by Iris **West** not Iris **West-Allen**."

Her eyes shone as she understood. "Its was him wasn't it? The fake Dr Wells?"

Barry nodded grimly his face taut with tension. "A hyphen and my last name was all it took Caitlin to destroy our entire world," He said his voice hoarse with grief that Caitlin was quick to catch.

She grasped his free hand and squeezed gently. "I died, didn't I?"

"In the worst way." He said nodding a few tears he had been keeping at bay now falling.

"What happened," she asked gently but then reconsidered. "Can you tell me?"

Barry nodded. "When I jump time, I jump into alternate dimensions creating wormholes to rip the fabric of reality and jump back, essentially the world back in my time is still going on only I'm no longer in it. I can tell you everything, it will not cause a paradox, but everything that had to happen the last time will still happen unless I as a time traveler or you as someone who would know future events changes something."

Caitlin shook her head. "Time lines and continuum's I never could get my head around it." Barry grinned at her admittance. "What _can_ you tell me?"

"I'll tell you why I came back and what happened between us, you can choose what you want to do after." At her nod he launched into his story. 

* * *

"....and I reached Mach 4 and travelled back here to make things right." 

Caitlin just stared at Barry for a moment in silence as she tried to process. "So..." she said finally. "Ronnie is going to come back to the city a couple of weeks later and propose to me?" he voice went high pitched at the end when she said 'me' and Barry had a hard time refraining from kissing her.

He nodded. "Yeah," he replied swallowing his mirth and concentrating on her question. "He's been thinking about it for a while and when we call to ask him for help dealing with Thawne he takes the opportunity to ask you to marry him. You say yes and with Dr Stein officiating you two tie the knot outside of S.T.A.R. Labs the day that I travel back to try and save my mother."

"But you don't." She states her eyes compassionate knowing how much this sacrifice must have hurt him.

Barry sighs. "I don't," he agrees. "The Flash fighting Thawne in my house told me not to do it and I had to stand there and listen to that bastard murder my mother." Caitlin reached for him and he came willingly, she wondered at the older Barry who didn't seem that afraid to accept comfort and she wondered at herself as she for the first time in a long time willingly gave comfort.

"What I don't understand though," she said as she stroked his unusually long hair. "Is _why_ I agreed to marry Ronnie." She felt Barry smile into her neck and thought about his reactions, he didn't seem all that guarded around her, judging from the kiss he gave earlier, a much better kiss than the one Everyman gave to her, their sordid relationship was very important to him.

"You told me your side of the story a couple of months ago," He replied pulling back. "Two weeks from now things happen that put us on edge; Thawne figures us out and escapes kidnapping Eddie Thawne in the process, we realize that he fixed the particle accelerator and turned it on again, we have little more than two days to evacuate the meta humans in the tunnel, I stupidly enlist Leonard Snart's help to move the prisoners to Lian Yu and his eventual betrayal results in all of them getting freed, then Thawne makes his play to kill me. Firestorm and the Arrow help me defeat him. The fact that in the last few weeks you had been in three separate life threatening situations combined with your relief at seeing him again and your wish for some of the old normalcy you had with Ronnie led you to say yes to the proposed shotgun wedding."

Caitlin's eyes were wide at the events that would be unfolding as early as a week from now and she could understand how she might want some of that familiar happiness she had with Ronnie but she still didn't see how Barry came into the picture. Barry seemed to be following her train of through because he continued with his story.

"However you said that the one event that was the catalyst to you agreeing to Ronnie's proposal was what happened when we discovered Thawnes secret room at Star Labs... "

She blinked. "We just discovered that room this evening," she said and Barry nodded his agreement. "I - I don't understand Barry, nothing really happened in that room, you were able to get us out the before Dr Wel-," she hesitated. "Thawne found us out." She had a hard time forming complete sentences, Barrys gaze was so intense on her. It sparked all those emotions that he invoked in her that she usually managed to keep a tight lid on. Maybe it had to do with the fact that this Barry looked more self assured and less burdened than her Barry had ever been.

"The byline," He said softly and she felt that pang in her chest as she remembered noticing and bringing to their attention the name of the reporter who wrote the article depicting the future.

"Oh."

Barry pursed his lips and nodded. "You told me that ever since we went out that one night and I stayed with you till you fell asleep that you had been struggling with feelings for me?"

She blushed at that implications trying to be haughtily angry at him for suggesting such a thing, it was her natural reaction to someone realizing her true feelings. "I - I don't kn-know what..." Barrys hand on her arm stopped her and he looked into his eyes. Something there told her not to try and lie to him so she hesitated and then kept quiet.

"I understand why you didn't say anything... "

Unexpectedly her temper flared, she had so hoped that he could pick up the hints she had dropped after that night they sang at the karaoke bar but as usual he couldn't see past Iris-Freaking-West.

"Do you understand Barry? Do you really? Do you have any idea what it's like to be emotionally damaged and yet have feelings for one of your closest friends while knowing full well that he's in love with someone else?"

She immediately regretted her outburst fully expecting him to close up, she had a tendency to lash out whenever it came to talking about her own emotions and feelings.

What he did though left her nonplussed for a moment. At her outburst he let off a grin which he tried to unsuccessfully stifle and listened to her rant, and he reached forward and tucked a few errant curls behind her ear as she flushed crimson.

His voice was soft as he replied calmly to her blurted angry question. "Yes, love." The endearment seemed to fall unconsciously from his lips. "I do know what that's like, case in point me and Iris." He needn't say any more as she realized she had exactly described his situation with Iris which mirrored her situation with him.

Barry cupped her cheek gently. "Its so hard not to kiss you right now," He said making her mouth fall open in shock. "You have no idea how much, Cait."

She cleared her throat. "Hmm...uh yes...well that's... uh..." she floundered for words, this Barry was invoking so many feelings in her and she didn't know what to do with them. She took a deep breath. "Moving on from that...uh...you were... uh... saying something about the byline...?"

Barry nodded pulling back and removing his hands from her face, very reluctantly in her opinion. "Yes, that byline," he sighed heavily and Caitlin knew that what ever was coming next was not something she was going to like very much. "Thawne doctored that article and made it pop up whenever someone other than him entered the room."

Caitlin frowned in thought for a moment. "You weren't supposed to marry Iris?" she asked in realisation.

Barry shook his head. "No, I wasn't," He replied his voice distant.

"W-were...," she trailed off but then wet her lips to try again. "Were we supposed to...?"

Barry smiled and shrugged. "Maybe, but we never got that chance."

Caitlin stared at that smile for a moment and then frowned. "But you said that I married Ronnie," she bit her bottom lip nervously and saw Barrys eyes immediately dart downwards, she shuddered at the look in his eyes and released her lip from between her teeth shifting self-consciously.

Barry nodded. "That you did but and as I said; you told me that the main catalyst for you accepting his proposal was that byline, which you now know is a lie, we realize our feeling are still there two years after you married Ronnie and one year after I married Iris. We didn't act on our feeling for the next three years but then our close proximity and ever growing closeness caused the inevitable to happen..."

Caitlin studied him for a moment then said. "We cheated," her words were cold and unfeeling as she tried to distant herself from the idea of her committing adultery.

Barry sighed and nodded. "I had actually admitted to you that I loved you, we talked about it and both agreed that it was too late. We never mentioned it but that byline was still between us and we believed that things were as they were supposed to be."

"What made us...?"

"I was working on GIDEON trying to figure out what Thawne had messed with inside her circuits and I was frustrated with Iris and my relationship, we had agreed to stay married for Joe but were more or less friends so I asked her to show me more visions of mine and Iris' future to find out how we made it work, she answered that she didn't know what I was taking about. That threw me so I asked her to show me the future concerning Iris West-Allen and she shocked me when she said that the future contained no such person, the present did but we would soon be separated. I asked some more questions and she told me that she had never displayed any such article for them to see that contained Iris West-Allen's byline."

"I hunted a little more and found the article on the Flash disappearing but the byline only read Iris West. Turns out that he had hidden a trigger from GIDEON that activated the first time anyone other than him entered the room displaying the article without the AI's knowledge." He shook his head his face pained. "We should have known," He said through gritted teeth. "After we found out about his surveillance, we should have known he would have thought of something but we let that byline dictate so many things..."

Her heart clenched at the grief on his face but something else he said put her on alert. "Surveillance?" she asked her voice a whisper. "He's been spying on us?" Her voice went up on the last word belying her anxiety.

Sighing Barry nodded his head shifting to focus on one of the vases on her coffee tables and up towards the ceiling fixture. "He's been watching us all ever since he met us, you and Cisco the longest so he can determine whether you've figured him out or not."

Caitlins jaw dropped as she realized the implications of his statement. "So he knows that we entered his hidden room and that we know who he really is?" she asked her voice only a whisper as she looked around her expecting the Reverse Flash to appear any moment and rip her heart out.

Barry nodded sympathetically. "He has had hidden surveillance everywhere. In here too," He said glancing around the room. "He knew the second we admitted our suspicions out loud."

Caitlin looked around horrified at her darkened living room. "Y-You mean _that man_ had been watching me at my home?" he voice rose sharply at that last word her anger and indignation rising.

Barry only nodded grasping her hand and squeezing reassuringly. "Hence the city wide black out, I couldn't take the chance that he would catch me in the cameras and if I only took out the blocks power he would immediately know something up, whatever he is Eobard Thawne isn't stupid."

She could feel the tears welling up as she searched frantically for the hidden devices. Her home was the one place she felt safe, it was her haven but now all she could see was Wells spying on her in her living room, in her bedroom, in the bath?

"Oh my god, Barry!" She said her voice hoarse at the invasion of her privacy. He was immediately at her side pulling her to him, his left hand went to her back and his right went to her hair, he rhythmically stroked her back and smoothed her hair and in no time her breathing returned to normal and her tears subsided, she hiccuped once and he tightened his grip on her, squeezed once and let go; his movements seemed practiced liked he'd been doing it for a long time.

Berry's expression was grave on her behalf, he wiped away the last evidence of tears from her cheeks and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Thawne has a lot to answer for Caitlin, I let him get away once but not this time," He vowed and his words resonated through her, she knew at once that she could rely on him to follow through, not because her Barry wouldn't but this Barry actually seemed capable of not only taking on the Reverse Flash but actually surviving the encounter.

Caitlin though reassured by Barry's words still looked frantically around her living room. "Where are the cameras, Barry?" she asked her voice hushed. "We need to find them... I can't..." she knew she was on the verge of panic but Barry's hand in hers managed to keep her from hyperventilating. He squeezed once and laced his fingers with hers.

"No Cait we can't."

She stilled and looked at him incredulously. "What?" she more or less screeched.

Barry didn't react. "Think about for a moment Caitlin," He urged. "Stop reacting and think."

And just like that her brain engaged and she did as he asked. After a few minutes she said. "He doesn't know that we know he's spying on us." Barry nodded. "We can use that." He smiled making her lips turn up a little. "We can turn his own plan against him now that we know what he will do."

Barry smirked as he stood up and paced over to the window. "Exactly. Eobard Thawne will regret the day he tried to hurt us," He turned around and she gasped at the fire in his eyes. "I give you my word, Caitlin."

And the scary thing was; she believed him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope that was as fun for you to read as it is for me to right, I personally love Caitlin's character and Danielle Panabaker is so expressive that I have to capture the nuances in her facial expressions just right, it provides me with a new experience as a writer. Sound of in the comments section your opinions on this chapter and if you did have fun reading it the leave some kudos to show some love.
> 
> Read some of my other works here:
> 
> MCU
> 
> Time travelling Steve, Peggy and Bucky, enter present time and meet the team and their own counterparts. Read about their antics here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/3308672
> 
> De-aging serums, dying Agent Carters and scheming HYDRA, oh my! Read here: http://archiveofourown.org/works/4303254


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long wait. Not my intention but definitely my fault, I left real life unchecked for too long and it crept up on me. But now I'm back baby! And here's the next chapter, enjoy!!

Barry woke up a full hour after his alarm went off and flashed through all his morning rituals but was still late getting out the door of Joe's house. He was just about to flash to work when a small energy efficient two door car rolled up his drive, he recognized it as Caitlins car and stopped in his tracks. What was Caitlin doing at his home. Not that he was opposed to having her visit but wasn't she supposed to be at work?

He walked up to the passenger door and frowned when all she did was slap a piece of paper on the rolled up window; OPEN THE GARAGE. It read. Now he was really confused but not wanting to be on the wrong end of Caitlin Snows glare he flashed back into the house and opened the garage door letting her park her car inside. When she got out though she gave him a meaningful look and walked back out onto the driveway. He shut the garage door and raced after her catching up as she made it two blocks away from his house.

Once there he tried to speak but a glare silenced him, she handed him some que cards and finally made sense of her weird behaviour.

DON'T SAY ANYTHING. WE MIGHT BE BUGGED.

Of course reflex action at that horrible possibility made him want to speak but the glare was firmly in place so he zipped it and kept reading.

I NEED YOU TO FLASH US BOTH TO STARLING CITY.

He raised his eyebrows at her and she mimed flipping a card over. He complied and was rewarded with.

TO THE ARROW CAVE.

Barry nodded understanding where they were going but still not getting the **why** of the trip. It must have shown on his face because she slapped another card in his hand as she walked down the street.

I'LL EXPLAIN MORE ONCE WE GET THERE. IT'S NOT SAFE.

Now he was really concerned. What the hell was going on? But he knew better than to ask so he picked the slip of a scientist bridal style only for her to flash him another card.

DON'T BURN MY CLOTHES!!!

Barry rolled his eyes at the meticulous doctor and started running. Four minutes later he set her down near the back entrance of the Verdant ready to say how he could have made that trip easily under one minute when she flashed him yet another card.

SHUT UP!!

Barry bit his tongue to stop himself from replying. Right _bug's_. He watched as Caitlin dug in her purse and took out a folded piece of cardboard, she held it up to the hidden camera situated at the top of the door frame of the lair for five seconds then handed the cardboard wordlessly to him, she typed out the password to the Foundry and it opened readily.

Looking around furtively they walked in quickly and shut the door behind them, once inside he chanced a glance at the board in his hand it read:

FELICITY HI! DON'T SAY A WORD WHEN WE COME IN. WE MIGHT BE BUGGED!!

He stifled a laugh and then marveled at the ingenuity of Caitlin's methods; unless someone managed to hack into the Foundry's systems they would not be able to figure out the communication. And hacking into Felicity's system was nowadays more or less impossible. 

As they descended the ladder to the Foundry they found Felicity waiting for them her expression anxious but still quiet which must have been a feat considering it _was_ Felicity. She immediately rushed over to them giving first Caitlin then him a warm hug which he heartily returned, he had missed her. He was also a little concerned, he knew things were going on in Starling city recently that caused her a lot of grief but there was nothing he could do about that until he could actually talk to her about it.

Felicity led them over to one of their equipment tables and picked up a device that looked like a cross between a Geiger Counter and a Metal Detector. She picked up a tablet and typed something on it then showed it to them:

GIVE ME YOU PHONES. I'M GOING TO RUN A LOCALIZED E.M.P OVER YOUR CLOTHES. YOU'RE GOING TO WANT TO GET RID OF ANYTHING ELECTRONIC THAT YOU'RE ATTACHED TO.

She collected their phones, watches, Caitlins tablet and bluetooth headset, his pedometer and you really don't realise how much electronics you carry on your person until it's called to attention. All of them went into an airtight thick walled box which Felicity shut and locked up.

Then she removed all of her own electronics which was surprisingly less then theirs; just her watch, her ear piece and surprisingly she switched out her current glasses for an identical pair from her desk draw. Then squaring her shoulders she went to work running the E.M.P all over their bodies there were moments where little sparks of static went off and Felicity frowned like when she passed over his collar and Caitlins sleeves. Finally fifteen minutes later Felicity set down the E.M.P with a sigh and spoke.

"So," she said sitting down on her chair. "Let's skip the cavity search, shall we?"

Barry let out a laugh while he heard Caitlin mutter that it might actually not be a bad idea but they both settled down on stools they found beside one of the work tables.

"While I don't mind strip searching my friends for bugs on a daily basis, you mind telling me what you guys are doing in Starling City," she asked spinning her chair left to right restlessly. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, cause I am," she hurriedly reassured. "I'm quiet happy, I am." She then mumbled to herself.

Caitlin took the lead. "I didn't expect anyone to be here this early," she said in lieu of answering the question.

"I couldn't sleep," she blurted out. "Yesterday, a lot of things happened. Canary and Roy tried to stop Brick. And Oliver came back from the dead. Malcom Merlyn is now trying help us or maybe not. Oh and did I mention Oliver came back FROM THE DEAD!?"

Caitlin stood up and walked over to her and patted her arm consolingly. "I did hear that. I'm sorry, I know you have a lot going on here and the last thing I want to do is to add to it but you and Oliver are probably the only ones who can help us."

Felicity clasped Caitlins hand for a moment before letting go and nodding. "Sure, of course anything we can do to help, we will," she turned to Barry and asked. "What do you need." She looked surprised when all he offered was a shrug.

"I'm just the driver," He pointed to Caitlin. "Its she who brought us here."

Felicity looked expectantly at Caitlin and she bit her lip, before she could answer though Barry caught something move out of the corner of his eye, a white blue streak that he only noticed because it moved the same way he did. There was another speedster in the room with them.

He immediately shot forwards towards the streak and his eyes widened when he realised the steak didn't clear into a person when he picked up speed, it was moving so fast that even at Barry's speed he was still a blur.

He chased the blue blur all around the room never catching up to him until he heard Caitlin yell at him to stop, he kept chasing for a moment until.

"BARRY STOP!!"

And he did and apparently so did the other speedster, he stood across the room from Barry near Caitlin while he himself had stopped near Felicity who sat stunned staring from one speedster to the other. The room had been blown apart, the entire foundry floor was covered in Arrows and papers and equipment.

He was wearing a white suit with blue and white boots and a blue flash logo on his chest, he also wrote a slim helmet covering his face in complete white except for a blue strip of light where his eyes should be.

"You need to work on your movements," said the speedster. "All this?" he indicated the mess. "Was you and yet _I_ was moving faster."

Barry narrowed his eyes at the taunt ready to have another go at the guy when Caitlin snapped at him sharply. "Barry. No!" He looked at Caitlin for a moment intent on challenging her command when he realised she wasn't looking at him.

"Caitlin?" he asked hesitantly.

Caitlin looked from the white speedster to him before speaking to Felicity. "Felicity, when I said you're the only ones who could help us, I wasn't talking about me and Barry," she scrunched up her nose at that statement though. "Well not exactly..."

The white speedster spoke up again. "No. She was talking about helping her," Barry watched as he reached up and pressed a button on the side of the helmet which cleared the apparent holographic mask and showed his face and Barry stood in shock as his own mouth spoke the white speedster words. "And me," he finished.

Felicity was the one who made the noise that broke the silence and it was a long drawn out gasp that echoed through the Foundry breaking everyone out of their shocked and smug silences. "What. The. Frak."

Barry couldn't help the snort of amusement that escaped him at that, only Felicity. But then the self proclaimed IT goddess turned to him. "I'm calling Oliver," she said and Barry nodded his agreement at that idea.

They all just stared at each other as Felicity took out her phone tapping the screen a few times, then she put it back in her pocket giving Caitlin a pointed look that Barry took to mean that she needed to start talking.

Caitlin took the hint and with an apologetic glance at him started speaking. "Yesterday, after we met at your house Barry, I arrived home to find you there. At first I thought that Everyman had gotten free even though we only locked him up hours ago especially when he..." she trailed off and turned slightly red and backtracked making Barry frown. "Um...well... after that when I saw his suit and his appearance I put two and two together and realized that you had time traveled back from somewhere in the future..."

Barry scrutinized his future self for a moment. "Why is his hair like that?" he asked no one in particular.

Caitlin frowned at him but the other Barry let out a very familiar if a little more gruff laugh. "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing," He said shaking his head.

Moments later they heard a loud roar, the sound of a very fast travelling motor cycle and then a squeeling of tires just outside the back entrance of the Foundry.

"Oliver," breathed Felicity softly as the door flew open and Oliver Queen fully armed with his bow and all came rushing down the stares, in seconds he had his bow drawn, arrow trained at the unknown element in the room, Future Barry. When he realized who exactly was wearing the white suit his arrow dipped low a few inches before rising back up aimed right between the eyes of Future Barry. 

He looked around the room, gaze resting on Felicity as he made sure she was fine before looking at both Barry's.

"What the hell is going on!?" he growled.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't forget to leave a comment and kudos if you liked the chapter, your feedback will help me keep churning out chapters. Thanks for reading!


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